In 1914, the fossil of a large predatory dinosaur was discovered on an expedition to the Bahariya Oasis in Egypt.
The specimen was excavated and sent to German palaeontologist Ernst Stromer von Reichenbach, who later described the species before it was put into storage with other Egyptian dinosaur fossils in the Bavarian State Collection for Palaeontology and Geology – then located in the Old Academy building in central Munich.
Stromer originally classified the fossil as Carcharodontosaurus, meaning 'shark-toothed lizard'. At about ten-metres long, it was one of the largest land predators in history, similar in size to Tyrannosaurus rex.
However, disaster struck on 21 July 1944, when an allied air raid on Munich destroyed the Old Academy. The fire wiped out most of the collection, including all the Egyptian dinosaur fossils.
For decades, the fossils were forgotten. The only records that remained were Stromer’s notes, drawings and a few photos of the original skeletons. Or so it was thought.
Recently, during new research, palaeontologist Maximilian Kellermann, a master's student at LMU Munich, found previously unknown photographs of the dinosaur. These images showed the original skeleton – including parts of the skull, spine and hind limbs – before its destruction.
Kellermann, who analysed the photos with Professor Oliver Rauhut from the Bavarian State Collection and Dr Elena Cuesta from LMU, was shocked at what he observed.
“What we saw in the historical images surprised us all," says Kellermann. "The Egyptian dinosaur fossil depicted there differs significantly from more recent Carcharodontosaurus finds in Morocco. Stromer's original classification was thus incorrect. We identified a completely different, previously unknown predatory dinosaur species here and named it Tameryraptor markgrafi."
The findings of the study were published in the journal PLOS ONE.
Introducing Tameryraptor markgrafi
Tameryraptor was enormous, with symmetrical teeth and a distinctive nasal horn. Its name comes from 'Tamery', an ancient Egyptian term meaning 'the promised land', and it honours Richard Markgraf, the fossil collector who unearthed its remains.
Researchers found that Tameryraptor was closely related to Carcharodontosaurs from North Africa and South America, as well as Metriacanthosaurs, a group of predatory dinosaurs from Asia.
“Presumably, the dinosaur fauna of North Africa was much more diverse than we previously thought," says Rauhut.
"This work shows that it can be worthwhile for palaeontologists to dig not only in the ground, but also in old archives. However, a more comprehensive assessment of the Cretaceous predatory dinosaur fauna from the Bahariya Oasis would require the recovery of more fossils from the site,” Rauhut concludes.
Main image: Skeletal remains of Tameryraptor markgrafi in the exhibition at the Alte Akademie. Taken at an unspecified time before the material was destroyed in April 1944/University Archives Tübingen (photographer unknown)
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